Arden Field, home of Finchley C.C. is a bogey ground for Southgate if ever there was one and so it proved as the visitors suffered a heavy ten wicket defeat, which left them just above the bottom two teams in the Premier League. Finchley looked a good all round team on the day but it must be said that Southgate’s performance was way below par.

The home team won the toss and asked Southgate to bat first and although Alvin nicked off early, Tom Edrich (31) and Michael Stevens (26) batted steadily and sensibly, adding 48.However,the picture changed completely when Finchley introduced their two spinners into the attack and they were to take seven of the last nine wickets as Southgate collapsed alarmingly. Fred Wilson (33*) showed some spirit but two run outs added to the chaos and a meagre total of only 134 was attained.

A flat wicket, hot sun and a small total added together did not offer much hope of success and sadly, that combination proved much too much and Finchley sailed home to a comfortable victory.

Next week Teddington at home and the Southgate batsmen will need to find their form of last year to give their bowlers a fighting chance.

Apologies for brevity folks – this match report comes almost a week after the fixture took place and my memory isn’t what it used to be. Anyway, excuses aside, here’s what I can recall from Southgate 2nd XI vs Twickenham at the Walker Cricket Ground on June 13th 2017.

Southgate batted first and, having absorbed the traditional warning to play cautiously against the new cherry, Shoaib and Jouning were treated to as profligate an opening spell as I’ve ever seen at this level of cricket. Twickenham were forced into an early change, bringing spin into the game after just four overs with fifty runs on the board.

It was, in fact, the first change bowler, Tom Field, who removed both our openers with his reliable-looking off spin. Fortunately, that was not before they had scored 48 (Shoaib) and 79 (Jouning). With 49 from Hutton, a bright and breezy 20 from Jankowicz, and 45 from Johnson, we barely broke sweat in compiling 278 from our 50 overs, putting us in the driving seat. Or so we thought…

Stepping out confidently with healthy blood sugar levels after tea (all bar Rob Johnson who unexpectedly skipped this meal and paid the price: low blood sugar = high economy rate!), we were quickly put in out place. Hindsight is helpful, but there was more than a tinge of complacency about our demeanour; both bowling and fielding suffered, and Twickenham’s aggressive top order took advantage. At what felt like the 15th drinks break of the day, the scoreboard showed the visitors had a winning run-rate with plenty of wickets in hand.

The reality of a fairly lifeless pitch had finally dawned on us and with some persistent stuff from Ravi Desai, backed up by the consistent Henry Thompson and a couple of handy partnership-breakers from de Crescenzo, we had fought our way back into it. With run-rate pressure, Ben Elders returned to bowl a much-improved spell and by the end we were pushing for the win while they had conceded a draw was their best possible result.

Before the game, the teams were level on points, so a winning draw has to go down as a positive result, but we’ll certainly expect a competitive fixture at the Cabbage Patch later in the season.

After a successful spell in the limited overs format the third team were keen to continue the winning streak into the timed games. Southgate was looking resplendent, it was baking hot and there was 22 yards of concrete to bat on out on the back pitch; all signs pointed to runs.

Naturally, Captain Carr won the toss and stuck us in the field.

As expected, there were no hidden demons in the pitch and at 30-0 Ealing looked like putting on a hefty total. Frustrations were growing in the field, mostly aimed at Sage.

Enter Tristan Flint. In a spell reminiscent of Broad against South Africa he ripped through the entirety of Ealing’s top 6 and put us firmly in control of the game. Tight first-change bowling from Cox and Carr reduced Ealing to 60-8 and we were all looking forward to a couple of cold ones and watching the 2s for the rest of the afternoon.

Unfortunately what followed was one of the most boring passages of cricket I’ve ever been party to as Ealing’s number 8 and 10 crabbed along at 2 an over for the next 25. A mixture of the heat and thinking the game was in the bag meant that we didn’t keep up the intensity and allowed Ealing to recover to 112 all out. Nowhere near enough but something to bowl at least.

The team that can’t chase were promptly reduced to 7-2, and when Shiv fell for 9 it looked as though the 3s might be wobbling. Folland and Babwah steadied the ship before Liam was bowled trying to put one in the trees. A solid partnership between run machine Dean and Folland got us close to the line before James D and Coxy put the game to bed with 4 wickets in hand and 20 overs left.

10 more points and a masterful piece of captaincy from Adrian to ensure the win…. Was it ever in doubt?

Harrison Folland

Oakfield Parkonians | 102 all out |Southgate 4th XI | 103-4 |

Southgate won by 6 wickets.

Hornsey cried off so we picked a game in wildest Essex at the Hainault Rec. Sometimes these games can be a mismatch and this turned out to be the case. Amazingly it was Southgate who were by far the stronger team.

The oppo chose to bat in a 40 over match and Roy Marett effectively running the game within a couple of overs by nipping out the top three. the pitch was a bit spicy at his end with the odd one shooting over Partha’s shoulder. They got to their modest total courtesy of the fifth wicket partnership against the middle over trio of Babwah, Gordon and Gunn. The opener got 50 and then he fell when Roy took a fine catch at mid on off Gordon’s bowling and that really ended the resistance. Abs and Roy came back to finish things off.

We turned straight around as tea hadn’t arrived. There were no alarms in the batting and we were 60-1 after 10 overs when the break came. Partha retired, Kunjal looked like he had never been away and some eccentric umpiring decisions allowed a couple more people to have a bat.

Next week we are home to Hampstead, run away unbeaten leaders of our division, so a different kettle of fish……….